PHOTOS: A laid-back beach town is looking differently at "bums"

Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times

Young transients gather at the corner of Abbott Street and Newport Avenue in the Ocean Beach area of San Diego. The laid-back neighborhood is being torn by a dispute over the emergence of a subculture of unkempt young males sleeping in doorways, urinating in public places and panhandling aggressively. The flash point was a bumper sticker reading: "Welcome to Ocean Beach. Please Don't Feed Our Bums."

Young transients gather at the corner of Abbott Street and Newport Avenue in the Ocean Beach area of San Diego. The laid-back neighborhood is being torn by a dispute over the emergence of a subculture of unkempt young males sleeping in doorways, urinating in public places and panhandling aggressively. The flash point was a bumper sticker reading: "Welcome to Ocean Beach. Please Don't Feed Our Bums." (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Eric "Kandy" Diaz, 19, left, and Lili Ford, 26, make bracelets from colored beads while sitting at the corner of Abbott Street and Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach. "We're not bums, we're travelers," said Ford. "We travel to Ocean Beach because most of the people are cool, and they help us with money." Diaz said he's made a discovery: "If you treat the police in Ocean Beach nice, they treat you nice."

Eric "Kandy" Diaz, 19, left, and Lili Ford, 26, make bracelets from colored beads while sitting at the corner of Abbott Street and Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach. "We're not bums, we're travelers," said Ford. "We travel to Ocean Beach because most of the people are cool, and they help us with money." Diaz said he's made a discovery: "If you treat the police in Ocean Beach nice, they treat you nice." (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)